Apparatus for governing the passage of cars or vehicles along a railway and the control thereof.



T. e. WILLSON. APPARATUS FOR GOVERNING THE PASSAGE 0F CARS 0R VEHICLES ALONG A RAILWAY AND THE CONTROL THEREOF.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 20.19I6.

Patented Mar. 12, 1918.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

INVE NTR WITNESSES T. G. WILLSON. APPARATUS FOR GOVERNING ms PASSAGE or CARS 0R VEHICLES ALONG A RAILWAY AND 'THE CONTROL THEREOF.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 20,1916- 1 ,259, 1 8% Patented Mar. 12, 1918.

l 7 I 3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

1 i /e 20 2/ FEG.

WITNESSES T. G. WILLSON. APPARATUSEOR GOVERNING IHE PASSAGE O'F CARS 0 R VEHICLES ALONG A RAILWAY AND THE CONTROL THEREOF.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 20, I916. 1,259,184. Patented Mar. 12, 1918.

3 SHEETS-SHEET'3.

l l l 'r FIG. 7

INVENTOR Q-zW K WITNESSES THOMAS G. WILLSON, 0F SWISSVALE, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOB TO THE UNION SWITCH & SIGNAL COMPANY, OF SWISSVALE, PENNSYLVANIA, A. CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

APPARATUS FOR GOVERNING THE PASSAGE OE CARS OR VEHICLES ALONG A. RAILWAY AND THE CONTROL THEREOF.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 12, 1918.

Application filed July 20, 1916. Serial No. 110,377.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS G. TILLSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Swissvale in the county of Allegheny and State of Iennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Governing the Passage of Cars or Vehicles Along a Railway and the Control Thereof, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to machines for the control of railway trafiic governing apparatus, and more particularly to machines of this character comprising levers for the mechanical control of such apparatus and other levers controlled by the said apparatus for governing the first-mentioned levers.

I will describe one form of controlling machine embodying my invention and then point out the novel features thereof in claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of a controlling machine embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a sectional view on line II1I of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows. Fig. 3 is a sectional view on line III-III of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrows. Fig. i is a view showing in front elevation the arrangement of the locking parts on shaft 2 and slide bar 16 when levers E and M of Fig. 1 are in their normal positions. F ig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4, but showing these locking parts in the positions which they occupy when lever E is in the intermediate position and lever M is unlatched. Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 4, but showing the locking parts in the positions which they occupy when both levers E and M are reversed. Figs. 4 5 and 6 are views showing in side elevations the locking parts shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 6 in the positions which they occupy in the latter views respectively. Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic view of one arrangement of apparatus and circuits for the control of a railway switch by levers E and M.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts in each of the views.

Referring first to Fig. 1, M designates a mechanical lever mounted to oscillate on a pin 8 in a supporting frame A, which lever, as I shall describe hereinafter, is adapted to operate by a rod 10 certain railway traffic control apparatus, as for instance, a railway switch. Lever M has two extreme positions, a normal position which is the position wherein the lever is shown on the drawing, and a reverse position indicated by a dotted line designated 1". The lever may be locked in one or the other of these positions by a block 11 coacting with the extremities of a stationary member 12, usually termed quadrant, because the surface of this member (on which surface block 11 rides during a movement of lever M) is the arc of a circle whose center is at pin 8. The block 11 is raised from the locking position or lowered to said position by a latch handle 13 on lever M. The up-and-down movements of this block control a rocker link 14 having a slot 13 in which block 11 slides during movements of lever M. For a movement of this lever from normal to reverse the link 11 is first rocked counterclockwise by the unlatching of the lever, then remains stationary during the reversal of the lever, and is rocked counterclockwise again when the lever is locked in its reverse position. For a lever movement in the opposite direction link 11 is rocked clockwise in similar manner. These movements of the link 14 are communicated to a slide bar 16 which at its lower end is pin-connected to link 14 and which at its upper end is free to slide in a bearing 17 fixed to the frame of the machine. The up-and-down movements of this bar caused by the latching and unlatching of lever M are controlled in a manner which I shall describe presently.

In the upper part of the machine frame A is mounted an indication lever E, which has three positions, namely, a normal position (in which position the lever is shown on the drawing), an intermediate position designated i, and a reversed position designated 7'. Lever E operates through bevel gearing e a horizontal shaft 1, which is controlled by indication magnets R and N as I shall explain hereinafter. Shaft 1 is operatively connected with a horizontal shaft 2, through an adjustable rod 3, which, as best shown in Fig. 2, is fixed at its upper end to an arm 4 on shaft 1, and at its lower end to an arm 5 on shaft 2. When lever E is moved from the normal to the intermediate position, shaft 1 is turned through an angle of 30 in counterclockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 2, and shaft 2 is turned through the same angle in clockwise direction. A further movement of lever E, 2'. e., from the intermediate to the reverse position, causes shaftsl and 2 to turn in the above-men-' tio'nedi directions through another 30 de-:

grees.

The shaft 2 controls the movementso f the slide bar-.16 by means of a segment 18 af fixed-to the end of theshaft as 1 shall now eXplain with reference particularly to Figs. 4,5,6 and 44,55, 6 Segment 18 is provided with two dogs, 19 and 20, which are adapted to coact with a tongue '21 riveted to slide bar 16. In Figs. 4 and t I have shown shaft 2 and slide bar 16 in positions corresponding to the normal positions of levers E and M, in which positions tongue 21 abuts against the under surface of dog 19, thus preventing an upward movement of the slide bar 16.- and,consequently, an unlatching of lever M. W'hen lever E is opslipping between dogs 19 and 20, as shown in Figs. 5 and 5", so that shaft 2 is firmly locked 'againstrotation and lever E is pre vented ffrom movement in, either direction fromitsintermediate position. Tongue 21 remains in the position shown in Fig. 5

while lever M is being reversed to operate the corresponding traffic control device. \Vhen lever M is latched in the reversed POSltlOlibflI 16 is raised until dog 20 is-free to pass under tongue 21, so that shaft 2 can be turned in the counterlockwise direction. Lever E may therefore be turned to its reverse position, so that segment 18 moves into the position shown in Figs. 6 and 6 in which-position the dog 20 slips under tongue 21 and prevents a downward movement of slide bar 16, thus locking the lever M in the reverse position. The operation of the looking parts for an operation of the levers E and M from reverse to normal is similar and need not be described in detail. Thus it appears that the mechanical lever can be operated from one position to the other only by a corresponding movement of the indication lever, and it is impossible to have simultaneously a normalposition of one lever and a reverse position of the other.

'InFig. 7 I have indicated the abovementioned control of the levers E and M by a dotted line between the pivotal points of the levers. Lever M operates through rod 10 a sliding plate 23 which is connected by a rod 26 to a sliding contact member 27 which coacts with two pairs-of stationary contact springs 28 and 29,-so locatedthat member 27 bridges a pair of, springs at each end of the stroke of lever M. Plate 23 is provided with :a cam slot 2.4 for receiving.

a roller 25 mounted on the operating rod 50 of a switch S. The shape of the cam slot 241-. is such ;that a reversal of lever-M op}; eratesuthe switch S from its normal to its reverse position only after an initialmovement of plate 23 suflicientto open-contact 29, and contact 28 is closed only aft'er'the' a movement of lever E from normal'to reverse, the lever is arrested in the intermediate position until magnet R is energized, whereas for a movement inthe opposite direction the lever is arrested inIthe' intermediate position until magnet N is energized. Lever E further operates a con-' tact finger 35 to engage a contact plate 37' when the lever reaches its'reverse position, and to engage a contact plate 36 when the lever passes into the normal "position. I

The circuits for magnets. R tand 'N are controlled'by [the contacts 28 and 29 hereinbe'fore mentioned and eyes Contact fin? ger 35. The circuit for magnet R "isfa's fol; lows: from battery 38, through wire 39, contact 85-36, wire 40, magnet nerve 41,CQI1- tact 28, wire 12 to battery 38; Magnet R can therefore'be energized only when switch S is in the reversed position. Similarly,'the circuit for magnet is as follows: from buttery 88, throughwire 39, contact 35'3 7, I

wire 43, magnet N, wire 14:, contact 29 and wire 42 to battery 38, so'that magnet N can be energized only when the switch S is norma The operation of the apparatus is'as follows: U v V 7 To move the switch S from the "normal position shown on the-drawing to thereverse position, the operator throws lever E to the intermediate position, "in which position further movement of lever E is prevented by thecoiiperation of latch SO Qand segment 31, and also by the mechanical locking between levers E and M, a's'her'einbefore explained. This movement of lever E releases'lever M and't'h'e operator reverses this lever, causing a reversal'of switch S and a closure 'of'sw'itch contact 2'8." Closure of this contact brings about the energization of magnet R and the consequent raising of latch 30 for releasing lever E. The operator throws lever E to the reverse position to lock lever M reversed, as hereinbefore explained. During the last-mentioned stroke of lever E finger is operated from engagement with contact plate 36 into contact with plate 37, thus opening the circuit of magnet R and dropping latch 30*. The operation of the apparatus for a reverse movement of the switch is similar and need therefore not be described.

As is well known in the art, an interlocking machine usually comprises a plurality of levers, similar to levers E and M, which levers are interlocked by means of locking bars comprised in a locking bed. As shown in Figs. 1 and 3, shaft 2 operates a locking bar 7 through a crank arm 8 in such manner that angular movements of shaft 2 cause longitudinal movements of bar 7 The movements of bar 7 effect the desired locking in a manner well understood in the art.

It will be seen from the foregoing that by virtue of my invention I am enabled to convert a standard Saxby and Farmer mechanical interlocking machine into an electro-mechanical machine by merely replacing the direct connection between the latch link 14 and the shaft 2 by the interlocking means shown in Fig. 4, and adding the superstructure carrymg the indication levers 1.

Although I have herein shown and described only one form of apparatus embodying my invention, it is understood that various changes and modifications may be made therein within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim is:

Interlocked controlling apparatus for railway trafiic governing devices, comprising a Saxby and Farmer mechanical interlocking machine having the usual mechanical levers, latches for said levers, transverse shafts one for each latch, and the usual interlocking bed having longitudinally movable bars operated by said shafts; a superstructure on said machine carrying a plurality of indication levers each of which is operatively connected with one of said transverse shafts; and means interposed between each latch and the corresponding transverse shaft for preventing release of the latch when the corresponding indication lever is in extreme position and for preventing movement of such indication lever when such latch is released.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

THOMAS G. IVILLSON.

Witnesses:

A. HERMAN WEGNER, FRANK W. MYLER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

